The clearing shook under the weight of the hybrid’s presence. Its body flickered with stolen light, each pulse of silver and blue glowing beneath its smoky skin like veins filled with moonlight. Sage’s energy burned inside it. I could feel it through the bond, faint and distant, but unmistakable. The hybrid had taken pieces of her pulse, and now that power twisted through its massive form, making it stronger, faster, hungrier.
Hazel knelt at the center of the ritual circle, her hands pressed into the dirt. Sweat dripped down her temples. Her fingers glowed faint red as she shaped the sigils, her breath coming fast and uneven. The ground beneath her pulsed with Sage’s frequency, vibrating like a living heartbeat.
“Do not let it near me,” Hazel warned, her voice tight as a drawn bowstring.
